Flight Of Fancy
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: When Sam, Mikaela and Miles go for a tour around Nellis Air Base, they have no idea that in many different ways, it will change their lives forever.
1. Chapter 1

Flight Of Fancy.

Summary: When Sam, Mikaela and Miles go for a tour around Nellis Air Base, they have no idea that in many different ways, it will change their lives forever.

Rating: M for graphic description.

Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro and Dreamworks/Paramount, not me.

Flight Of Fancy.

Chapter One.

Miles was looking around with an incredulous smile on his face, like the kid who had just discovered the candy store was unlocked and nobody else was around.

"Cool!" he said, running over towards where the military planes had been brought out onto the tarmac at Nellis for a VIP's tour. Elsewhere, a few tanks and armoured vehicles were out, either stationary or moving about, roped off to keep them and the few other people at this special event at a safe distance. Occasionally, a jet flew overhead.

Sam nodded wearily. He wasn't quite so enamoured of the military paraphernalia as Miles was: he'd seen enough in action in Mission City. It was Lennox who had offered to take the three for a VIP tour of Nellis, organised for them and several high-up dignitories by SecDef Keller, and although Sam himself wasn't that interested, he knew Miles would be, and Miles was his bro. So Sam had accepted, asking if he could bring Miles, which Lennox had agreed to. So Sam and Mikaela feigned interest, taking a few photographs with Ron's old camera that he'd loaned Sam, and trailing about as Miles ran from one thing to another, most of them some form of aircraft.

"Hey kids, enjoying it?" asked Epps, sauntering over and clapping a heavy hand jovially on Sam's shoulder: Sam's knees almost gave way at the unexpected blow.

"Y-yeah, I guess." said Sam. "It's not really my thing, but Miles? He's enjoying it." He looked up as he heard the scream of jet engines, and shuddered as he saw an F-22 Raptor fly overhead. Despite the fact that Lennox had assured him that all the F-22 Raptors at Nellis were the real deal, he still couldn't help looking apprehensive as it turned, dropped its wheels, and glided to a stop on the nearby runway. He wondered if Miles would still be as fond of aircraft if he'd been through the same experiences, and come as close to Starscream as Sam had.

"Hey, I'm gonna try and catch the pilot, ask a few questions." Miles said. He ran over towards the plane. Sam smiled and raised his hands in an amused 'whatever!' gesture as he turned towards Epps.

"Couldn't you have at least warned me that a Raptor would be turning up?" he asked. "Oh well, we've lost Miles now until that pilot manages to satiate his curiosity. What is it?" he asked, realising that Epps was frowning.

"I didn't warn you, Sam, because I wasn't told. Hang on, I'll call through for confirmation. It's probably had to divert for fuel, or some sort of mechanical problem."

Raising his radio to his mouth, he spoke into it, asking for confirmation that the F-22 that had landed was expected.

"It's not?" Sam heard Epps say, the Sergeant's mobile face registering enough alarm for Sam to set off at a run towards Miles, who was stood about ten feet away from the Raptor.

"_Miles! _Get _away_ from there!" Sam yelled. There could be another explanation, he figured, it didn't have to be Starscream, but Sam would rather make a fool of himself by shouting rather than risk Miles getting hurt because he hadn't warned him.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Sam's suspicions had been correct, for as Miles turned to look at him, the Raptor's body moved, twisting and flipping and unfolding into the thirty-one foot high bipedal form of the Decepticon Seeker Starscream. Miles had looked around at the sound of transforming, and as his mouth fell open, his knees gave way as his brain desperately tried to process the impossibility taking place before him.

Sam had not been permitted to speak about the Autobots or Decepticons to Miles under the terms of the Non-Disclosure Agreement they had all had to sign. Sam never regretted that necessity as much as he did at that moment. Miles might have at least been prepared enough and forewarned enough to have been running.

Starscream stooped as Miles suddenly worked out for himself that this unknown being could potentially be very dangerous and scrambled to get up, but Starscream swiftly used one hand to pick the human teenager up. Miles yelled, part outrage, part fear, and Sam yelled "Don't hurt him!"

Starscream turned his head, his fiery optics fixing on Sam, the shutters narrowing.

"Give me one good reason why I should _not_ harm him, insect," the Decepticon stated.

"He's an innocent, he has nothing to do with this, your quarrel is with me and the Autobots, not him."

At that moment a phalanx of soldiers rounded the corner, armed with guns loaded with Sabot rounds. Starscream stepped forwards, holding Miles out towards them.

"If you shoot me, I'll squish him like a bug."

Miles was white-faced in Starscream's hand, his breath coming in loud, terrified gasps. Sam turned to face the soldiers, both hands out in a 'stop' gesture.

"He's not bluffing. If you shoot him, he'll still have time to kill Miles," Sam said. He turned to Starscream.

"Look, look, maybe we can negotiate about this. What do you want?"

Starscream was so fast, Sam didn't have time to dodge. He felt cold hard metal fingers grab him and hold him tight.

"Hey!" Sam yelled as Starscream scooped him up.

"For now, you'll do. They dare not shoot in case they hit either one of you. For now, I shall retreat, and think through my options."

Holding the two humans up against his chest, Starscream leaped into the air and flew off in robot form.


	2. Chapter 2

Flight Of Fancy.

Chapter Two.

By virtue of the journey not taking too long, and the fact that Starscream held them close to his chest, below his Spark, they did not get too cold by the time Starscream landed at the Decepticon base.

He walked into a large room, and put Sam down.

"Well, I went out on a fuel-flight and gained more than I thought I would. I did not gain the fuel, but I did find you, Slayer of Megatron, and Destroyer of the AllSpark." He then turned to regard Miles, whom, he still held.

"But what of _you_, fleshling worm? Who and what are you?"

"M-Miles L-Lancaster." he stammered. "I-I'm just interested in planes."

"Do you know the Witwicky fleshling?"

"Y-yes, we're best f-f-friends," Miles said. Starscream's optics half-shuttered, and he looked at Miles, then at Sam.

"Is this true?" he asked.

"Yes." Sam said. "Miles is an innocent, just a friend I invited along because I know he likes planes. I'm the one you want to punish, let him go and punish me."

Starscream gave Sam a nasty look.

"But, fleshling, what better way to punish you?" he said. Sam only realised what Starscream meant when he heard Miles scream, a scream that was cut off by the sound of multiple bones breaking as Starscream tightened the hand around Miles and _squeezed._

"NO!" Sam yelled, flinging forward a hand, but he already knew he was too late.

Sam was as surprised as Starscream when blue-white light flew from his hand, hit Starscream hard enough to knock him onto his back, and then flowed up Starscream's arm to engulf the dying, broken remains of Miles Lancaster. Starscream jerked twice, and then managed to drop Miles as the blue-white corona about him began to swell alarmingly. The Seeker scrambled back, seizing Sam as he retreated, while Sam just stared at his hands as if he didn't know what they were.

The brightness seemed to stabilise, and colours seemed to flicker across the hemisphere of light's surface. Sam, dangling at an awkward angle from one of Starscream's double-thumbed hands, saw what resembled Ratchet' scanning-beams leap from Starscream's optics to play over the dome of light.

"AllSpark energy," the Seeker breathed, turning his head to look at Sam. The intense scrutiny made Sam squirm. "So, it seems the AllSpark's Essence is not lost, merely relocated, into you." Starscream let out a laugh. "I have succeeded where Megatron failed. The AllSpark is mine!"

'_Not if I can help it!' _Sam thought, wondering if he could find a way to channel this power, to use it to escape. He did not let any of this show on his face, but pulled his attention back to the pulsing hemisphere of light covering Miles.

It was shrinking rapidly, he noticed, but where it had been lay an oddly familiar shape. It was not Miles, as Sam had hoped it would be, but a double of the one holding him.

Starscream too had turned his attention back to the energy, and as he also noticed what the receding energy left behind, his vents speeded up.

"You, wait here." he said depositing Sam on the floor, and heading for the facedown Seeker. Sam ignored him and followed at a run.

As Starscream reached the other Seeker, said Seeker raised his head, caught sight of Starscream, and began to keen and thrash desperately. Starscream tried to grab the Seeker, trying to soothe him, but he merely thrashed more. Sam had a suspicion, and took the risk of shouting up at Starscream "Let him go and back off, that's Miles and he's scared of you!"

Oddly enough, Starscream not only heard Sam, but did as he said, backing off to a distance. The other Seeker's thrashing calmed, but it managed a crab-crawl into a corner.

Sam moved over into the Seeker's line of sight, and as the flier spotted him, it stopped pressing itself into the corner, optics dodging between Sam and Starscream.

"Miles? Is that you?" Sam asked. The Seeker's optics whirred as the pupil-apertures dilated and contracted and then focused on the human boy.

Some odd whirring noises were heard, then a few staticky noises followed, and then the Seeker managed to get out one word, slurred and quavery.

"S-Saam?"

He raised a hand and looked at it. Something unintelligible came out, but the tone of the cry and the look he threw Sam made what he was asking quite clear.

"Miles, it looks like you've become a Cybertronian, like Starscream. Starscream said that the energy that covered you - and I don't know how or why that happened - is energy from an artefact they had called the AllSpark. Somehow, it has made you like this." Sam said, feeling out of his depth.

It was at that moment that Starscream spoke.

"The AllSpark's primary function was to create new life, what we termed 'sparklings', but the AllSpark has also been known to be a healing force. It regenerated Frenzy not so long ago on this very planet, on Cybertron it was used to heal severe, Spark-threatening damage. I surmise that it detected that Miles was damaged, but was unfamiliar with organic systems…so changed him to a form it could repair, using me as a template for his exoskeleton."

Miles watched Starscream as he talked, but Sam noticed Miles press back into the corner again. Obviously, Miles still remembered what had happened. As if in confirmation, when Starscream moved forwards, Miles began to get panicked, squealing in distress, pressing his wings painfully against the walls, his feet scrabbling.

"Miles, Miles, I won't let him hurt you!" Sam said, interposing himself between Miles and Starscream.

Starscream's first instinct at this action was to laugh, for there was little the human could do to stop him if he wanted to harm Miles. However, Starscream did not wish to harm the human-turned-Seeker, but to calm him, and laughter would thus be counterproductive. Starscream concealed his amusement, and instead did something unexpected.

Bending his legs and tilting his body forwards, Starscream bowed towards the two. It was a shallow bow, but still a bow, and it had the desired effect: Sam and Miles stared at him, both of them giving him their full attention.

"So, it seems the AllSpark has seen fit to gift your friend with the body of a Seeker." Now that Starscream had their attention, he wasn't going to waste time. "Who am I to stand against that decision? I promise I will not attempt to harm your friend further, Sam." The Decepticon leader looked beyond Sam towards Miles.

"Miles Lancaster, you said your name was." He gave a huff through his vents that sounded suspiciously like a snort. "Miles, well, I don't know what to make of that as a name, but Lancaster is a perfectly respectable designation for a Seeker, even if your alt, as it is the same as mine, is a Raptor." He gave another sound, this time it was definitely an amused sound, as he dipped his head in a nod.

"Yes, I shall call you Lancaster."

Starscream took a step forward, but stopped as Miles tensed again.

"Come, Lancaster, I have promised I will not harm you. Decepticon I may be, but word-breaker I am not."

"W-what about Sam?" Miles' voice was still more staticky than any other Cybertronian voice Sam had heard other than Bee's, but then that was to be expected, he was not used to being in a mechanical body.

Starscream shuttered his optics briefly before speaking again.

"Sam has the AllSpark in him. He is far too valuable to us alive and well. I will not harm him either, although it seems he will be our guest for an extended period of time." He took another step forward, extending one hand down and to one side of Sam.

"Lancaster, let me help you up. Come with me, and learn how to walk, transform, and fly."

For a moment, Miles hesitated.

"I can learn to fly?" he asked.

"Of course. All Seekers must be able to fly, our sanity is dependant upon it. Although I am already a part of a trine, quartets are not unheard of. Come, meet my trine, we will teach you what you need to know."

"What about Sam? Will he at least be looked after? Humans have needs, food, water, sleep and - um- a toilet." Miles said, his voice steadier as he got used to his vocaliser.

"You can tell us what Sam's needs will be. We will see that they are provided for." Starscream said, still holding out his hand. Miles looked at Sam, then back at Starscream, before extending his hand to grip Starscream's.

Starscream stepped forward and crouched, his other long arm snaking around Miles' shoulder, and Sam backed off as Starscream pulled Miles to his feet. Supporting him under one shoulder, Starscream helped Miles make a wobbly exit through the door. Sam belatedly tried to make a run for it, but the door slid shut the moment the two Seekers were through.

Walking back over to where he had been before, Sam sat down to wait.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Sam was alone for quite some time, and when the doors opened, it was Barricade, not Starscream or Miles, who entered.

Sam edged away, not comfortable about being in the same room as the police cruiser, his memories of that terrifying first encounter still gave rise to nightmares. However, Barricade barely acknowledged his existence, dumping a jumble of sheets and pillows on the ground, followed by a large pizza box and a bottle of soda.

"Starscream ordered this to be brought to you," was all Barricade said before he walked out, leaving Sam alone again.

Sam waited a few moments before moving over to the pizza box. Inside was a super-size pizza with everything on it that he liked and nothing he hated, and he gave a slight smile. It looked like Miles had given whoever got the pizza a list of Sam's likes and dislikes. The pizza had cooled on the way back, but was still a bit warm, and Sam devoured several slices one after the other, only stopping to breathe. He had been held for some time and his last meal seemed a very long time ago. He washed it down with some of the soda, and then turned to the sheets.

Once he'd sorted through them, Sam was able to make a rudimentary bed from what Barricade had brought. The day he had had suddenly caught up with Sam.

Lying down, Sam decided it was more comfy than sitting up, He'd wait for Miles in a more restful position.

A few minutes later, Sam was fast asleep.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

It was the sound of metal clicking on concrete beside him that woke Sam. Opening his eyes, he saw a Seeker sat by him. He couldn't tell who it was from the appearance because Miles' body had been a physical duplicate of Starscream's in every way. Taking a guess that the Decepticon leader would not sit by him in this way, Sam said "Miles?"

"Hi Sam, I see Starscream has been listening to what I told him. He said that he'll get some toileting facilities soon," his friend replied.

"Yeah, thanks for that, Miles, I guess I was hungry and tired, but I'd rather not stick around. Have you learned to fly yet?"

"Yeah, well, I've learned the basics, how to take off, land, turn, ascend and descend, but nothing fancy yet. Starscream and the trine say I'll be taught rolling and looping and other acrobatic manoeuvres tomorrow." Miles said, shifting his legs a little and looking away from Sam. Sam couldn't say what it was, but he tensed up himself.

Something was wrong.

"Look, Miles, we need to get away, you could fly me away from here. Head for Tranquility, and then we can contact the Autobots and get help," Sam said.

"Sorry Sam, I could, but I'm not going to do that," Miles said. "Starscream has promised not to hurt you, and considering his reasoning, I believe him."

"I don't want to stay here, Miles, these are Decepticons, they are not very nice mechs at all. Look at what they did to you, Starscream tried to _kill_ you!"

Miles sighed, and turned his head to look at Sam.

"That was when I was a _human_. Now I'm one of them, they've been treating me like a friend, like an _equal_. When I was human, how did other people treat me, Sam? I think you know." Miles thumped the ground with one fist, his optics burning hotly, quite clearly upset.

"Yes Sam, you know, don't you? I had the likes of Trent pushing me around and making fun of me. The chicks thought I was weird, or uninteresting. The other guys only tolerated me." Miles looked away again, unclenching one finger from his fist to point it at Sam.

"Even _you_ Sam, abandoned me, at the lake to go after Mikaela. No, Sam, I have nothing and nobody to go back for. I have no great love of humans, especially now I no longer _am_ one. I'm staying with my own kind now, with Seekers." He looked back at Sam again, the pointing finger curling back into the fist with the others.

"And don't bother to try escaping either. Skywarp is guarding the main exit and I…" He paused, lowering his head, looking discomfited. "I'm your in-the-room guard, Sam."

Sam stared at Miles in disbelief.

"But Miles…" he said, but he was interrupted as Miles thumped the ground with his fist again.

"No, Sam, I'm not Miles, Miles died when Starscream destroyed him. My name is _Lancaster_ now, and Lancaster looks after himself, and his own."


	3. Chapter 3

Flight Of Fancy.

Chapter Three.

As Miles - or Lancaster, as he now called himself - stood and walked towards the door, Sam looked up, but did not move or call out. He watched with a mixture of pain and regret as the new Seeker walked out of the door without a glance back.

With a sigh, Sam reflected that as painful as Miles' accusation was, it was true. At school, Miles had been the quiet, 'weird' kid who few paid much noticed, and the bullies loved to torment. Sam had sought out the pimply boy in his first year, out of pity, and found Miles to be an unusually loyal sidekick. Miles had lied for Sam, given him alibis for several escapades, keeping him out of trouble.

Sam felt a cold, hard lump congeal in his stomach as he recalled how he had repaid Miles at the lake for his loyalty: by ordering him out of Bumblebee - who he'd then thought of as no more than a car - to walk several miles home, in favour of giving Mikaela, who barely knew he existed at the time, a lift home. He had taken Miles' loyalty for granted, and now he was paying for it.

He found himself wondering what Bumblebee and Mikaela were doing now, hoping they would find out where he was and rescue him soon. After all, thanks to his own thoughtlessness, Sam could not rely on Miles to help him out.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOooOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Once Starscream had left Nellis with his two human captives, Mikaela came out of hiding from behind the armoured car she had ducked behind, and dialled Bumblebee's com number. She had hesitated to call before in case Starscream detected the phone's signal, and took her as well, or shot at her, there was no point in putting herself in peril.

"Bumblebee, I'm at Nellis. Can you pick me up? Starscream's just been here and he's taken Sam and Miles!" she said when the scout answered midway through the first ring. As Lennox had provided a staff car to take the three teens to Nellis for the tour, Bumblebee was at the Autobot base for the day.

"_What?! _Mikaela, I'm on my way, I'll com Optimus to inform him, they can start on formulating a plan. I'll be there in an hour and a half, wait for me."

As Bumblebee cut the connection, Mikaela jointly cursed the distance Nellis was from the Autobot base ,and the speed limits that would stop Bumblebee reaching his top speed of two hundred miles an hour.

Walking over to Will Lennox, who was finishing a call on his own phone to his superiors, she nodded to let him know the Autobots had been contacted. Lennox rang off from his superiors, and called the guard at the gate to give him Bumblebee's appearance and number plate. As Lennox instructed the guard to let Bumblebee in without asking any questions or requesting a pass, Mikaela prepared herself for a long wait.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOooOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

It took an hour longer than Bumblebee had said, due to an accident on the highway and the resulting traffic tailback, but Mikaela ran over to him in relief as she saw the sleek yellow Camaro with the black racing stripes pull into the Base. Will joined her as they pulled open the doors of the Autobot's alt-form and slipped into the seats. Not everyone currently at Nellis was cleared to know about the Autobots, so Bumblebee had to stay in car form.

"Optimus has everybody trying to pinpoint the exact location of the Decepticon base." Bumblebee began speaking as soon as the doors were closed. "We have a rough idea of the general area, but not exact co-ordinates. Prowl is confident that Starscream will not kill Sam or Miles outright, Sam is too valuable as a hostage, and Miles has done nothing to upset Starscream."

Both Mikaela and Will felt the slight tremor that ran through Bumblebee's chassis that betrayed the scout's own concern for his human charge and his best friend, and Mikaela reached out to stroke his dash in an attempt to comfort him.

Bumblebee's tremors subsided slightly as he continued to brief the two humans.

"Prowl is planning a raid on the Decepticon base, but he wants to make sure it puts Sam and Miles in as little danger as possible, he thinks dawn tomorrow would be a good time, to take advantage of the low light conditions. I have been instructed to bring Mikaela to the Autobot base, in case she can add anything to the plan Prowl will have by the time we get back." The scout winked his fuel light to get Mikaela's attention before continuing. "After all, Mikaela, you know Sam the best of us all, and are in a better position, as a human, to know how he and Miles might react."

"Okay," Mikaela said distractedly, her mind already on what information Prowl might need from her regarding Sam. She turned her attention to Captain Lennox.

"Will you be accompanying us?" she asked him. Lennox shook his head gently.

"We're being debriefed shortly, and I'll need to be here as the man who knows what's going on. If you need me, though, call me, and I'll see what I can do," he said, also patting Bumblebee's dashboard as he climbed out of the passenger seat.

He stood, then bent back down, sticking his head through the open doorway.

"Keep us informed, right Mikaela, Bee?" he asked.

Mikaela nodded as she put on her seatbelt and put her hands on Bumblebee's steering wheel: although the Autobot would be doing the driving, she at last had to _look_ as if she was. Bumblebee's response was a short, single, affirmative blast of his horn. Lennox nodded in satisfaction before shutting Bumblebee's door firmly.

As he stood back, Bumblebee's engine coughed into life, and Lennox gave the sign to open the Base gates. As they swung open, Bumblebee's tyres threw up grit as his engine roared and he pulled out of the Base gates at the upper margin of the speed limit. Lennox lifted a hand in farewell, then dropped it.

"Godspeed, and good luck," he murmured as Bumblebee and Mikaela sped away into the distance.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

It was only a short time later that Lancaster returned, and when he did, he crouched down in front of Sam, holding his hands out in front of him.

"Get in. Starscream says we need to move. He will carry you, the others will follow with your bedding," he said. Sam did not want to know what his onetime best friend might do if he refused, so he silently climbed into the cupped hands. The fingers curled up slowly, deepening the curved pit Sam was now sat in, and Sam felt himself carried out from the building they had entered earlier.

It was night, Sam realised as Lancaster carried him out into the crisp night air, but the moon was half-full and the stars were out, and in the dim light they provided, Sam could see the sleek shape of a jet. As Lancaster carried him over, he saw light run like liquid silver over the canopy as it lifted.

"Lancaster, put him in here." Starscream's voice issued from the open canopy, quiet but clear in the night air. "We well leave for the secondary base now, the grounders will follow later." As Lancaster lowered Sam into Starscream's cockpit, he spotted two more shadowy jet-forms nearby.

"Put on the harness, strap yourself in," Starscream instructed Sam once he was sat in the seat. "Lancaster, take your assigned position by Thundercracker and transform, as we showed you earlier."

Sam could not see Miles from his seated position in the dark, but as he pulled the webbing over his shoulders and slid the clips into the circular harness latch, he heard him transform. The sound was, to one in the know, unmistakeable.

Starscream's smoked canopy descended, locking with a quiet click, and for a moment Sam was cocooned in relative silence. Then the seat beneath him vibrated as Starscream's thrusters fired up, and the scream of the engines drowned out everything else as Starscream taxied down a flattish strip of ground, then abruptly rose into the air. Sam grabbed at his stomach as the ascent seemed to leave it behind, then tensed as he heard Starscream chuckle.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked nervously. "Why the sudden move?"

"Oh, we are moving because it is likely that your Autobot allies know about the base we just left," the Decepticon leader informed him. "When we first looked for a base, several sites were considered, the one we have just left was the best, but we must now relocate to the second best one. With luck, the Autobots will not find it for quite some time." Starscream paused before continuing.

"By then I should have some idea of just what we can do with you."

Sam swallowed uncomfortably, feeling slightly ill as he wondered what his fate was to be. Starscream must have heard the gulp, for he spoke again.

"Oh, don't worry, Sam, you carry the AllSpark Essence, we're not going to kill you, you are far more valuable to us alive than dead. We need to find out how you can channel it, what you can do with it, and how we can then use you and it to further our aims. No, Sam, we won't kill you, so you can rest easy about that."

As Sam considered that Starscream might wish to use the power of the AllSpark to enslave and lay waste to the Earth, Sam found himself deciding that killing him was not, after all, the worst thing Starscream could do to him.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

When Mikaela arrived at the Autobot base, Ratchet advised her to grab a few hours of sleep, but Mikaela shook her head.

"No, Ratchet, I won't be able to sleep at the moment. Can I speak to Prowl? Bumblebee said he has some questions about Sam in particular and humans in general?"

Nodding, Ratchet instructed Bumblebee to take her to Prowl, who asked her about human sleep patterns, how alert Sam was likely to be at dawn based on his usual sleeping patterns, and adjusted his plans based on her responses. He advised her to stay behind and wait, but she shook her head emphatically.

"Unh-uh, I'm not waiting here pacing and waiting to find out if they're safe or not for as many hours as it takes, I'll go nuts from worry and boredom," she said. "Anyway, who knows? You might need me if there are small spaces to get to or more questions you might have when you get there." she said. Prowl huffed through his vents, and Mikaela glared at him. Despite the size discrepancy, Prowl took a step back from Mikaela.

"Very well," he conceded. "You will travel with Bumblebee, but you and he will stay back a safe distance until and unless we call you to come in." he said. Mikaela let out a silent sigh herself, she had expected more objections from Prowl, and was glad she was not needing to fight her case.

Moving over to Bumblebee, she slid in, for after the plans had been adapted, it was time to start off.

The convoy of Autobots moved out with lights on but dimmed. Bumblebee would usually have played some music, but neither the yellow scout nor the human female were in the right mood for music, so they drove on in silence. As they approached the base, Prowl signalled Bumblebee to stop and wait with Mikaela, Bumblebee playing the command on low speaker so Mikaela could hear. The rest of the Autobots extinguished their lights and waited too, as Mirage transformed, activated his disrupter, and slipped in to ascertain what was going on and where Sam was. Five minutes later, he reported back over the com.

"There's nobody here, it seems they've fled, but there are signs of recent human and Cybertronian presence. There's Seeker footprints everywhere, plus a pizza box and a half-drunk bottle of soda."

He paused.

"There is also what appears to be a fairly large deposit of what my scans tell me is blood. Human blood."

"Oh no! _Sam_!" Mikaela shouted. She had opened Bumblebee's door and was out, running towards the dark buildings before any of the Autobots, including Bumblebee, realised what she was doing.


	4. Chapter 4

Flight Of Fancy.

Chapter Four.

"Mirage, can you tell what blood group it is?" asked Bumblebee as he converted and went after Mikaela. Although Mirage had said it was deserted, he was not taking any chances that Mirage might be wrong, or that the Decepticons might have booby-trapped their former base.

There was a pause, and then Mirage said "The blood group is showing up as AB-negative."

By now, Bumblebee had caught up to Mikaela, and asked her "Do you know Sam's ABO blood type? His blood group?"

"O positive." she said. "Why?"

"Then the blood isn't Sam's." he said, blowing air through his vents in relief. "The blood Mirage found is AB-negative." He looked at her in confusion as she frowned again.

"Aren't you glad? It means Sam wasn't the one to lose all that blood."

"It doesn't mean he's _safe_, not by a long shot," she said. "Anyway, it may not be Sam's, but I remember Sam telling me Miles had his blood type done and finding it was AB-negative, He figured that as it's rare, he could make a fortune by selling it. It looks like Prowl was wrong about Starscream not wanting to hurt Miles." Mikaela looked up at Bumblebee with fear written all over her usually-attractive face.

"If he's wrong about Miles, he could be just as wrong about Sam."

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

They flew for what seemed to Sam to be a very long time, and he had actually dozed off by the time they landed. He was woken by a large but gentle finger pressing on the release catch of his harness, and he shifted and opened his eyes as he felt equally gentle hands lift him from Starscream's cockpit.

"Sam? We're here," said a voice, and by the hesitation and syntax, he recognised the speaker as Lancaster. Groggily he looked up at his onetime friend.

"So just where is 'here'?" he asked.

"I presume it's our new base. Come on, Sam, I can at least bag you a good room, and I promise I'll get some toilet facilities for you."

Lancaster cupped his hands by his chest and swiftly carried Sam into a nearby room.

"I'm sorry there's no bedding, but Barricade is following on with that. Wait here, now is about the right time to get you a loo."

Before Sam's brain had caught up with what Lancaster was saying, the human-turned-Seeker had already left the room.

Sighing, Sam found himself a corner to curl up in. He had slept in floors before, even without carpet, and the night was warm enough that he didn't need covers. His Spartan surroundings would not preclude him from getting back to sleep.

Five minutes later, he was asleep again.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

They were halfway back to the Autobot Base when a message, uncoded and on a wide frequency, was picked up by both Bumblebee and Mirage, who had their receivers extended to their maximum sensitivity, in case the Decepticons transmitted something that might prove useful.

"Sir, receiving a transmission on a wide frequency. It states that Sam is safe and being duly cared for, and that his human needs are being addressed. It also states that he will remain unharmed."

"Send a response, Bumblebee," said Ratchet, who was leading this particular convoy. "Ask them to identify themselves and ask for negotiation terms."

"Trying, Sir," Bumblebee replied "but I believe the message is a recording. However, the sender signs out under the designation 'Lancaster'."

"Lancaster?" Ratchet asked. "It is not a Decepticon I have heard of either here or on Cybertron before. Can you narrow the location of the transmission down?"

"Already doing so, sir," Bumblebee said. A few moments later, he transmitted the co-ordinates to the entire convoy.

As one, they changed course and headed for the new location.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

When they arrived, they were pretty certain that neither Sam, Miles, nor any Decepticons were in the immediate vicinity, for the co-ordinates led them to a building site, where the foundations were only just being laid. Mikaela got up and went to talk to the builders, flirting with them shamelessly as she asked seemingly insane questions of them.

She returned after five minutes, trying to conceal her mirth.

"What's so funny?" asked Ironhide. She tried to smooth out the grin on her face, and looked at Ratchet.

"I asked about vehicles acting or looking odd, and we hit pay dirt. They said there was a very odd-looking jet with arms and legs." She tried to smother a grin again as she looked back at the building site.

"Apparently it swooped down and stole their Portaloo."

OOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOooOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Lancaster landed quietly at the new Decepticon base, and as he walked in, he was met by Starscream.

"You sent out a message about Sam on a wide frequency, Lancaster. Some are accusing you of treachery. I hope you have a good explanation for your actions."

Lancaster bowed low.

"Lord Starscream, forgive me, but I do know more of humans than you do. I cannot speak for the Autobots, but if their human allies are assured that Sam is safe and well, they will not be so desperate to find him." He paused and straightened back up. "I was careful to record it and transmit it away from the base. In fact, may I suggest we get Sam to record a message stating that he is alive and being cared for, so they can _hear _that it is true." He lifted the portaloo. "I have also picked up something to take care of his need to - um, get rid of waste products."

Starscream nodded, reaching out to touch Lancaster's shoulder.

"Very well, your explanation makes sense, and you should be congratulated on getting something to deal with some of the messier aspects of humans. Take it to him and guard him again, although with Thundercracker on the outside of the door, you can probably take some recharge yourself." He turned, as if to go, then swung back.

"Get him to record a message as you suggested but caution him that nothing he says that may give away his location will be transmitted."

Lancaster nodded.

"Thank you, my Lord Starscream. I shall take it to him immediately." Lancaster picked the portaloo back up, and moved off to Sam's room.

When he got back in, he winced: Sam did not look very comfortable curled up on the floor. Lancaster lay down almost flat beside the curled-up human, before gently tapping Sam to wake him up.

"Huh? What? Oh, it's you," Sam said grumpily. "Can't a guy get some sleep around here?"

Lancaster pointed to the portaloo.

"As promised, I got you something for pissing and shitting in, Sam," he said.

Sam looked over, saw the portaloo, and suddenly realised that the natural consequences of eating and drinking needed to be dealt with, right now.

"Hey, thanks, it beats a bucket, bro," he said, dashing in and closing the door.

Lancaster waited for what seemed like a long time as Sam did the necessary in the portaloo, and then came out.

"Again, thanks, but I need my sleep." he told the Seeker. He moved back towards his corner but was stopped as Lancaster raised a hand.

"Sam, you might be a bit more comfortable if you strap yourself in my seat, in my cockpit. When I'm lying on my back like this, my seat is in a semi-reclined position. Barricade will bring your bedding later, and I told him to get you a Chinese and some drink on the way as well."

Sam looked up, and smiled a bit.

"Hey, thanks Lancaster." He climbed into the open hand and Lancaster gently deposited him inside.

"It's no trouble, Sam, I'll be recharging too, so it kinda makes sense." he said.

Lancaster stayed awake until he heard Sam's rhythmic snoring from inside his cockpit.

Then he initiated shutdown procedures for himself and relaxed, and swiftly fell into recharge.


	5. Chapter 5

Flight Of Fancy.

Chapter Four.

Sam had been with Starscream and his Decepticons for a week, and things were beginning to get monotonous. He had his bedding, he had Lancaster, who sometimes talked to him, he even had a proper, flushable toilet, and Starscream, in a fit of good temper, had once taken him out for a flight to relieve the boredom of his surroundings.

Sam could not have said what put Starscream in a good mood that day, but one thing was clear. Starscream's good humour had not lasted, and in fact this day his mood seemed to be fouler than usual, probably as a result of the conversation they were currently having.

"You have the AllSpark in you. Your friend is a Seeker as a result. You can channel it, use it as you wish. You will do with it as we will." The Seeker pointed to an empty space. "Create a Sparkling and show us your mastery of the AllSpark."

"I can't, I don't know how I did it with Miles," Sam told the Seeker. This was only half-true. It was true that he didn't know how it had happened, but he had a feeling that if he concentrated hard enough, he might be able to do as Starscream was telling him. However, he was equally certain that Starscream would not have him stop at one, nor would he give Sam a chance to get home if he was proven to have and channel the AllSpark.

Sam was hoping that if he played dumb and pretended he didn't know how to control it, perhaps Starscream would tire of him. With the AllSpark in him he should be too valuable to kill, but if he couldn't seem to control it, he hoped Starscream would tire of keeping him and let him go somewhere, planning to get him back later. At least, that was the theory, and Sam was hoping his theory was correct.

"For now, you rest, but I will return later and you will give me what I want, one way or another," Starscream warned Sam. "Your friend Lancaster has told me that I should use a carrot approach rather than a stick approach. I will do as he suggests, but you should not push me too far, fleshling. I will not be denied, nor made to be a fool."

Starscream walked out and Sam breathed out, wondering what Starscream had meant by those last words. Sam had already defied Starscream more than once, and he had seen Starscream so angry that had he not been of value to the Seeker he would have feared for his life. However, Starscream had stated more than once that the only reason he did not take out his anger on Sam's fragile body was due to the AllSpark's presence within him. Sam worried what Starscream's 'stick' approach might be. If he could not harm Sam for fear of killing him, and could not withdraw any of his facilities for the same reason, how would Starscream punish him for non-compliance?

He rolled back over and picked up one of the novels he had found in a box Barricade had brought in after Lancaster had pointed out that Sam needed mental stimulation to thrive. It wasn't the sort of thing Sam usually read but it was, after all, better than nothing. As he did, his mind wandered back to thoughts of Lancaster.

The new Seeker was an enigma, Sam had decided, a mixture of confusion and conflicting statements and feelings. On the one hand, he had stated humans meant nothing to him, that even Sam's friendship meant little to him. Yet he spoke up for Sam, tried to get things for Sam to make his life comfortable, and not strictly necessary to keep him alive. In addition, Sam had called him 'bro' or 'mate' more than once on these occasions, and Lancaster had not corrected him or told him not to use these terms of endearment. Sam had no idea what this meant, if anything, but decided to keep monitoring the situation.

It was several hours later that Starscream came back in, and Sam's heart gave a lurch because it was the voice of the one the Seeker was holding that alerted him to her presence.

"Let me go! Put me down you heap of flying junk!"

Starscream walked in, with Mikaela held securely in his big hand.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

"Mikaela!" Sam cried as he saw her. "What do you want with her?" he asked the Seeker.

"Lancaster said that humans found companions beneficial," Starscream explained. "I got to thinking, what if I provided you with your mate to keep you company? Would you feel more disposed to assist me, and work with me to channel the AllSpark for our benefit?"

"You're crazy!" Sam cried. "Capturing my friends is going to have the opposite effect. They have nothing to do with this crazy war you're fighting and this deluded notion that I can control and channel the energy of the AllSpark. Let her go, she is of no use to you, and I certainly won't try to channel the AllSpark energy when you're holding her as a hostage."

"What a shame," the Decepticon leader said, his faceplates approximating a reasonable impression of a look of sorrow. "Lancaster suggested using a metaphorical carrot in an attempt to get you to co-operate, and you are refusing to play along. Very well, I must resort to the stick. You have used the AllSpark energy once before, and it seems I must, as all scientists have to do, repeat the conditions of the situation in a hope of gaining similar results." He looked at Sam as his hand tightened around Mikaela.

Sam's mouth opened to shout a denial as he realised what Starscream was saying, but his cry went unsounded as he heard Mikaela's bones break. She uttered one half-scream before the life left her.

Sam could not stop his hands reaching out as he himself screamed wordlessly, tears welling in his eyes and flowing down his face, and he realised as he did that Starscream's suspicions had been correct. AllSpark energy flowed out of his hands and hit Starscream's hand, the one that held the remains of Mikaela. As the energy flowed around it, Starscream crouched, putting his hand and Mikaela's remains on the ground. The ball of energy grew and pulsed, and a few minutes later it receded, leaving behind a Seeker, both like and unlike Starscream.

The face, although metal, was still like Mikaela's, and although the curved helm resembled Starscream's, the slight angling back of it and subtle shaping did give it an illusion of metal hair. The fuselage was, again like Starscream's although the shaping of it again loaned a more feminine air to the body. The arms and hands were exactly the same as the Decepticon leader's, although her claws had the illusion of looking more elegant on the long Seeker hands she now possessed. Delicate hues of coral and blue patterned her undeniably feminine form, and Sam tensed as he saw Starscream crouch further down beside her.

The door opened and Lancaster came in, drawn, Sam could only assume, by his scream. Mikaela's optic shutters flickered as Starscream extended a hand towards her. She registered him and cried out, cowering back in fear.

"Mikaela, it's okay, I won't hurt you again," Starscream said quietly, coaxingly. "You're a Seeker now, a beautiful femme flyer, and I was taught to respect femmes of my own race. You know me as Starscream, and the other Seeker there is called Lancaster. You may have known him as a human designated as Miles."

That got her attention.

"Miles?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, it's me," he said. "I kinda had the same thing happen to me, I was damaged and the AllSpark remade me in Starscream's image. I know it's a shock to you, Mikaela, but you'll forget it when you learn to fly, you'll wonder how you ever stood being a human. Starscream won't hurt you, Mikaela, he means it, you're a Seeker now, and that changes everything."

"What about Sam?" she asked, looking around and finding him with her optics.

"He's being looked after by Starscream, I'm his resident expert on humans, and you can join me in that work, we can made Sam as comfortable as possible." Miles paused for a long time, then said "Let me teach you to walk and fly and use your body. Come on, Mikaela, I'll explain it all to you later."

She hesitated, but allowed Starscream and Miles to help her to stand, one on one side, one on the other.

"Lancaster, take Mikaela outside and start teaching her to walk, I have something to finish up here and I'll join you once I'm done," Starscream stated as he pushed Mikaela over to lean on Lancaster. Mikaela twisted her head to look at him.

"If you harm so much as a hair on Sam's head, I will oppose you in whatever you attempt with me," she snarled. Starscream smiled at her and put a hand out to stroke her head: she pulled her head aside.

"I won't harm him, Mikaela, he's no good to me damaged. I give you my word, no harm will come to him, I just wish to talk to him."

Mikaela looked Starscream in the optics, long and hard, and then nodded.

"Good. So long as we understand each other, we'll be fine, right?" she stated.

"Understood," Starscream said, and watched as she and Lancaster made their unsteady way out of the room. Once the door had closed behind them, he turned back to Sam.

"I meant what I said, Sam, I will not harm Mikaela. Not only is she a Seeker, but she is a _femme _Seeker. Femmes are rare as it is, and femme flyers even more so. It was not seen as a particularly feminine trait to be given a mode so easily turned to use in combat. With the AllSpark gone, or in you and unable to be used, mech-femme Sparkmerge is the only other way our race can reproduce."

Sam jerked his head up, fire in his eyes.

"If you force her, if you rape her, I swear I will find a way to _kill_ you!" he snarled.

Starscream pulled back with a look of shock and outrage on his face.

"Sam, forcing _anybody_, mech or femme, is one of Cybertron's greatest taboos, one that has lasted throughout the war on both sides. I would never _do_ such a thing. I will court your Mikaela, after all you and she are now incompatible, which leaves her free once she realises that, but I would _never_ force her to bear sparklings, or to interface with anybody, that will always be _her_ option, her _choice_." He turned to leave, then turned back.

"I must admit, however, that until you destroyed it, we have all believed that the AllSpark would be found, thus providing a steady source of sparklings for our race. If you are, as you say, unable to channel or control the Essence within you, that control shown by those of my forces may erode. I can promise to protect her to the best of my ability, but faced with an existence where we die and are unable to provide offspring to succeed us, the temptation may overcome one or two of the mechs." He looked back at Sam.

"If you manage to control the Essence and are able to produce young, that temptation will be greatly reduced. Now I have Mikaela to protect, I will take whatever steps necessary to protect her. That includes destroying as many humans as it takes if need be to produce new members of our race, as your instinctive concern for them seems to trigger these form-changing bursts of AllSpark energy."

He turned away, then turned to look at Sam once again.

"Do not force me to do the same to your Creators and your other friends."

As Starscream finally walked out of the door, Sam dropped his head into his hands in despair.

He realised he would have to try in future, try to co-operate and produce young.

For the sake of his friends and his parents, he would have to give Starscream what he wanted.


	6. Chapter 6

Flight Of Fancy.

Chapter Six.

"Miles, what are you _doing?" _Mikaela hissed once the door shut behind them.

"What I have to do to be trusted!" he hissed back. "Mikaela, it's not safe to talk openly, wait till you've learned to com, then I'll explain everything, but if I try to explain and Starscream walks out, then any opportunity we might be able to use is gone."

Mikaela gave him a look.

"Okay but I'm holding you to that, we've been _worried _about you. What am I going to do now I'm like this?" she asked. "Nothing I've been through prepared me for this, and I've been through a lot, believe me!"

"We cope, we learn to use what we've got and we adapt, Mikaela." He gave her a little shake. "You can't go to pieces now, Mikaela, do it when you have the time and luxury to do so, but not before," he said.

He had barely finished speaking when Starscream exited and came over to them. As they watched, Thundercracker went in to guard Sam, although he didn't look too happy about it.

"Watch my legs, Mikaela," Starscream said, walking to stand in front of her. "Lancaster will support you on one side, try to imitate my movement with your own feet."

Pushing aside her current concerns, she held on tight to Miles and concentrated on putting her feet one in front of the other, slowly following Starscream.

'_That's how I must deal with this.' _she thought. _'One step at a time.' _

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

She got the hang of walking and balancing quite quickly, and then Starscream told her he would download the information on how to fly to her. Lancaster grinned at her.

"You'll like this. Flying is _fun_!" he said, as Starscream took her to the makeshift runway after giving her a small quantity of fuel.

Starscream used a data transfer cable in his wrist to feed her the information on transforming, pre-flight checks, and various aspects of flight, then instructed her to transform.

"You should start in jet form, both because you should find it easier to fly in that form, and because it draws less attention. Then we'll go to an isolated area and you can practice in robot form," he told her.

First, they carried out their pre-flight checks together, and Lancaster said "I know this is boring, Mikaela, but it's important."

"I know, I know, but it doesn't make it any less tedious," she told him.

"Okay, that's the checks done. Mikaela, I'll fly up, you follow me but stay below me, and Lancaster will fly beneath you in case you falter." Starscream declared as he folded down into jet form and moved ahead of her. "We won't be going very fast, high, or far, this _is_ just a first teaching flight," he cautioned.

Mikaela nodded, a little disappointed, before flipping to jet form herself, followed by Lancaster.

"Okay, I suppose," she said.

The flight went smoothly, and Mikaela did as she was asked, keeping below Starscream and above Lancaster as he skimmed a few feet above the ground over a disused field. The only incident of note was when Starscream dipped down almost beside her, lightly scraping one wing tip against her side, then rising and then tilting to brush his nosecone against hers, not enough to destabilise her, but definitely enough to distract.

"Cut that out, Starscream, I know what you're trying to do so you can just stop that _right now_." she said sharply. "I _mean_ it. This is supposed to be a training flight, right? So you can quit the flirting!"

Starscream pulled away, grumbling "What do you mean, flirting? I'm a _jet!" _Mikaela huffed air through her intakes in a snort: Lancaster noticed she was getting used to Cybertronian equivalents of human huffs and snorts.

"Starscream, I've put up with enough of it at school to know that uninvited, un-accidental touching, even in innocuous places, is a come-on," she said. " Jet or no, you are trying to flirt with me, and I'm telling you now, I'm not interested."

"Why not?" he asked. "I think I'm a fine-looking Seeker. It's not as if Sam and you have much of a future, not now you're a Seeker too."

"I think I'll be the judge of whether Sam and I have a future together if you don't mind," she said sharply. "Keep your nosecone out of my business."

"You'll come around, eventually." he said. "I have a reputation for being impatient, but for some things I can wait, and you're worth it. You'll come around, and when you do, I'll be waiting for you," he said.

Mikaela decided not to dignify this with a comment.

Flying in robot form followed, and Mikaela had to put up with Starscream touching her, because she had to admit, his stabilising holds and supporting help did make the flight in bipedal form easier. She was tired when they landed, but exhilarated by their first flight.

"Here, you go in here with Sam, you two, you can guard him and keep him company for now. Thundercracker will want a flight, probably with 'Warp and I, but I'll be with you all soon," Starscream told them.

They went in to find Sam curled up asleep. As they came in, Thundercracker jumped to his feet and said "At last! I get to fly now!" He disappeared, and Mikaela and Lancaster lay down to rest.

"I'll teach you to com," Lancaster told Mikaela. "Then we can talk frankly."

He did, explaining that if he gained Starscream's trust, there would be greater and better opportunities to get Sam away than there were currently.

"If I try and get away with him now, they're liable to realise and chase me, and they'll keep me away from Sam, so bang goes my chance of getting him away.," he explained.

"You'd better hurry up, before Starscream threatens or kills someone else," she said. "Or before Sam kills himself or something from the stress."

At that moment, Starscream came in, crouched down by Sam's bedding roll, and gently poked the sleepy human. He grunted and woke up.

"What?" he said grumpily, sitting up and spotting Starscream. "Oh, it's you.," he said.

"I brought you some food," he said. "Barricade went for it, you should eat. Then perhaps we can try again with the AllSpark channelling." As Sam looked up defiantly, he cautioned him. "Don't force me to carry out the threat I made. If you've not channelled it by tomorrow morning, I'll go hunting for another human. All it needs is another to make up a complete trine for Mikaela and Lancaster." He put a super-sized pizza box down by Sam. "Now, eat this quickly before it goes cold," he said.

]"You make me _sick_." Mikaela snapped at him. "You'd better start rethinking the way you treat Sam or you can forget about me 'coming around' as you put it, _ever_. Sam may be a human and I may be a Seeker, but I'm still Sam's friend. Treat him badly, and I will resent you for it, you can be sure of that."

"All Sam needs to do, Mikaela, is help me and I'll treat him as nicely as you want." He turned to Sam. "Just a sparkling or two, Sam, just channel the energy, find out how to use it and control it, and we can do great things with it," he wheedled." We can spread across the universe, populate it with Seekers, and sparklings, and create a Cybertronian empire with you and I at the head of it."

"Yeah, you ruling and me being your instrument, your tool, Starscream, sounds great," Sam said sarcastically. "Look, give me some time, I have to see if I can talk to it first. I think there's a chance, it's been showing me pictures in my head, let me see if I can talk to it in my mind, if so I have a better chance of telling it what I need it to do, right?"

"Yes, human, that does make sense," Starscream said. He sat back and waited for Sam to finish eating, moving his hand almost unconsciously to brush against Mikaela's hand: Mikaela snatched her hand away and said "Stop it!"

Starscream pulled a face at her but obeyed.

Once he had finished, Sam curled up on his side and lay still. Starscream was tempted to poke Sam and rouse him, but he had promised to wait, and when he scanned him he found Sam's brain waves were indicative of him concentrating, not sleeping. The irregular spikes and troughs and peaks of Sam's brain activity fascinated Starscream in spite of himself, and he contented himself with watching Sam's brain activity via his scans for a good hour, as Lancaster and Mikaela rested themselves.

It was the sudden frenetic change in Sam's brain patterns that alerted him first, and he jerked upright and stared. Sam's eyes had opened and he was lying stiffly on the ground, his limbs trembling and his gaze staring off into the distance at nothing that Starscream could see. A strange string of sounds came from Sam's throat, sounds Starscream recognised as garbled Cybertronian.

Alarmed, Starscream started forward, fearing the human was having some sort of fit, but stopped as his scans registered an output of AllSpark energy. At the same time, Sam stopped shaking and his eyes closed. Then he opened his eyes and stood, and Starscream flinched at the look of anger in Sam's eyes.

"H-have you managed to talk to the AllSpark?" he asked, in an attempt to cover up his hesitation.

"Yes, I have." Sam stated. "It is aware of the situation, it is aware of my feelings on the situation, and it shares my anger at your disregard for life that is not your own. It has agreed that I can use it's energy, although it has put limitations on it's use." He faced Starscream, and as the Seeker watched, Sam's body began to glow the same blue-white as the energy he had so recently discharged. Caught sitting down, Starscream crab-scuttled away, suddenly afraid: Sam raised a glowing hand and Starscream found himself immobilised.

"Where are you going, Starscream? We need you here." Sam said. "You wanted me to channel the AllSpark and show you it's power? Then here you are, this is what you wanted. The AllSpark has agreed to demonstrate its power, and I will channel it and use it. That's what you asked for, Starscream, and that is exactly what you're going to get."


	7. Chapter 7

Flight Of Fancy.

Chapter Seven.

A/N: Not sure how I feel about this chapter, my Muses put in a twist that made writing it difficult...and there's at least two shades of Sanjuno bunny-ideas in here!

"I went too far with your friend and mate, I admit it!" Starscream almost shrieked as the glowing form stepped closer. "Please don't punish me, please don't kill me, I won't attack your family, I promise!"

Two forms moved either side of the bipedal glow that had been Sam, as Lancaster and Mikaela moved to flank him, reaching out hands but not quite touching the corona of energy that now cocooned the boy.

"Don't hurt him, Sam, how would that make you any better than he is?" Lancaster urged.

"Sam, no!" Mikaela herself said. "Don't become a killer just because you're angry and just because you can!"

As the figure apparently ignored them and advanced further, the two newest Seekers looked at each other and joined hands in front of the lit-up Sam.

"This far and no further, Sam." Lancaster said as Mikaela nodded. They looked at him defiantly to gauge his reaction, both hoping he would not choose to attack them to get to Starscream. All Sam's movements had been slow and steady up till that moment, so it took them completely by surprise when he suddenly ducked under their linked hands, rolling on the ground to avoid them, then stood. By the time they turned to grab at him, they were too late: he was touching the cowering Decepticon Leader's leg.

What happened was at first something of an anticlimax: There was a brief glow of blue-white light over Starscream's form, then it faded, as Sam, still glowing, appeared to collapse. All three Seekers scuttled back from the patch of iridescent light on the floor as it expanded to fill a large piece of the available space. As they watched, it became a little more defined, and by the time the glow disappeared entirely, they all three knew what they would find lying there.

Starscream moved over to the sprawled form, and was quickly joined by the other two as the third human-turned-Seeker clicked and turned his head. As the optics unshuttered, Starscream noted distractedly that the blue of the optics was not just a solid blue but glimmered and scintillated as he helped Sam to sit up. The AllSpark was obviously still quite active in him, something that made Starscream extra-wary.

He did not himself touch Sam, but indicated to the other two to help him to a seated position. They did, as Sam grabbed hold of the nearest winged shoulder and clung to it, shaking slightly.

"Sam, are you okay?" asked the Decepticon leader, still not reaching to touch Sam, although he longed to. Surrounded by those of his own kind, Starscream could scarcely have felt happier, despite his receding fear. Just a scant week ago, he and his wing brothers had been the only three Seekers that he knew still existed, and within the space of a week, that total had doubled.

"I…I don't understand." Sam said weakly. "An hour ago, I wanted nothing more than to leave this place and go home. Suddenly, I don't want to leave, because it would mean leaving at least one of you." Still holding the shoulder of Lancaster, Sam buried his face in his other free hand. "I don't _want_ to leave, even though it means you, Starscream, might still kill me, use me, or hurt those I love." He shook his head and shuttered his optics again. "What's wrong with me?" he cried in distress. "What's happened to me?"

This time Starscream did not resist, lying a hand flat against Sam's wing. The unexpected contact elicited a slight flinch and an upwards jerk of Sam's head, his optics opening wide. Blue optics met red and their gazes locked, and Starscream began to speak.

"No, Sam, I will not harm or kill you, or threaten those you care for, because now you are a Seeker, which means that now you are kin." He paused, wondering how best to explain further, than shrugged a little and continued. If Sam had questions, he could ask.

"Seekers, Sam, are a group apart from all others. Our frames, or mode of travel, sets us apart from others. There are many grounders who can exist and move in water almost as easily as they do in air." He paused, then continued. "With the exception of triple-changers - Cybertronians who can take on two modes - few grounders can do likewise without the assistance of a jet pack, and you really cannot call that _flying_." His snort indicated his disgust at such a comparison before continuing.

"It's a little-recorded but true fact that at several times in our planet's history Seekers were regarded as so different, and with such suspicion, that on many occasions -three of them major- they were seen as at best outsiders who were not wanted, at worst, as enemies who should be destroyed." Sam nodded, apparently making some comparison, but stayed silent, so Starscream continued to speak. "Although the Seekers were welcomed back into Cybertronian society at the beginning of Cybertron's Golden Age, and the persecution stopped and punished if found, the habits of those times, the times when the only person a Seeker could really trust was another Seeker, die hard."

"Those who are different are regarded with fear and suspicion." Sam said. "Right through from the odd kid at school being shunned and bullied, up to and including what has been known as 'ethnic cleansing.'" Sam nodded again. "So that darker side is something else it seems Earth and Cybertron have had in common." He reached up with the hand that had previously been clasped to his head to take Starscream's wrist gently.

"Now I understand far more than I ever did. It explains a lot to me - your disdain for even your fellow Decepticons except your wing-brothers, your mistrust of the Autobots, after all, none of them are fliers…and why Lancaster chose you over me." He looked over at Lancaster, not sure whether to smile or frown at him, for that rejection had still hurt.

"Yeah, Sam, sorry about that." Lancaster said, having the grace to look abashed, but grateful that Sam had given him that out. Had he admitted to Starscream that he had contemplated leaving to take Sam back, the admission would have likely hurt the Seeker, but with this exchange of words and apologies given having taken place, there was no need to tell him.

"There's more to it than that, Sam, there are other reasons I won't go into about why I would find it hard to trust Autobots, although part of it_ is_ that there are none in their ranks - that is, Seekers -, that we can trust." He eyed Sam. "Although, knowing where your and your mate's sympathies lie, I can hope that may have now changed."

Sam's Spark flickered.

"You - you want us to _leave?_ you're sending us away?" he stammered. Starscream moved to press his wing to Sam's in an attempt to reassure.

"No, not at all, if you leave it must be your decision, but if you were amongst the Autobots, we could trust information and offers from you. You could come back and visit us whenever you wanted, or even come back permanently if things don't work out. You have friends there, friends I am sure you feel you can trust, and friends I am sure you may wish to see again. The yellow Autobot Bumblebee, for example?" he asked.

"I - I guess I would like to see Bumblebee again." Sam hazarded. "Can you promise that you will not restart the war over the AllSpark again, seeing as it's turned out to be in me?"

"All I can promise, Sam, is that_ we_ will not start a battle for the AllSpark." Starscream told him. "However, if the Autobots re-start it, we will defend ourselves."

"That's good." Sam said, as the other two wingbrothers of Starscream walked in, saw the new Seeker, and stared in delight. "Because the Essence has made it very clear to me that it does not like to destroy." He extended a hand which began to glow. "It would far rather create, and is willing to do so for both sides."

Blue lightning shot from Sam's hand, striking the floor in three places. Where each one struck, a small silver winged form was left, looking up with wide optics at the six adults.

"Winglets!" cried Thundercracker, the blue wingbrother, crouching down to the nearest one. Starscream gave Sam a startled look, then as the one nearest him set up an urgent clicking, crouched to scoop it into his arms. The third was already being cooed at by Skywarp, who was nuzzling at it with a look of bliss on his face. Starscream looked at Sam with a look of gratitude on his face. "Winglet Seekers, little ones!" he said happily."More Seekers!"

"And more to come a little later, if that's what you want," Sam said.

Smiling, Sam turned to Lancaster.

"Hey bro, do you think you could teach me how to use my com system?" He smiled.

"I need to contact Bumblebee."


End file.
